Castles, cows & cool views

I woke up Friday morning in my cozy room at the Fraser House in Inverness. I tied the thick red curtains back from the window and enjoyed a cup of tea with a beautiful view of Ness River. Unfortunately, I didn’t have too much time to hang around the B&B as I had to be at my group tour’s meeting location by 8:20. 

Like the Jacobite Steam Train, this tour was something that I had planned on doing many months ago. I’m not gonna lie, I debated canceling my tour since yesterday was such a long day. However, I had also heard from many people that Isle of Skye is absolutely amazing. So, I pushed through and went on my 9 hr long bus tour… and I’m glad I did!

There were a total of 8 passengers on the bus, almost all of which were from the US (Missouri and Texas). It was a little crowded, since the bus only held 8 passengers, but was worth it for the amount of things we got to see and do. One of the first amazing views we had was of Loch Ness. Aside from being home to Nessie (the Loch Ness monster), Loch Ness is also interesting because the water is drinkable. In one of the towns nearby Loch Ness, there was also a “Nessieworld” which looked a lot like a small Disneyworld. So fun!

As we continued driving along, we saw some Highland cows in a pasture right next to the road. Our tour guide — knowing that seeing Highland cows is a MUST when in Scotland — pulled over and let us spend a few minutes taking photos. They were very photogenic and friendly! One of them came right up to the fence and let me pet her. I imagine they probably get lots of visitors.

Like other tours, I also got to hear quite a bit about Scotland’s history. This time, most were about the Jacobite Rebellion which took place in the 1700s. The Jacobite Rebellion was an attempt by some (not all) of the Scottish people to put the catholic prince, Charles Edward Stuart, on the thrown. I did not know this before, but apparently the Spanish also helped with this rebellion because they supported a catholic monarch. Many of the Spanish lost their lives in the rebellion and were buried in unmarked graves in one of the glens that we drove through on Friday.

An interesting story about the Jacobite Rebellion was about how Bonnie Prince Charlie escaped Scotland after his army was defeated at the Battle of Culloden. He had dressed up as a maid and sailed away on a ship. Meanwhile, another man dressed up as Charlie and was captured by the English. Nobody would identify him, so he was beheaded and his head was sent to England. By the time it got there, however, the head had disintegrated and the English could not identify it as Bonnie Prince Charlie. Our tour guide told us this story because we had driven past a sort of monument/grave for the man who was killed.

One of the best parts of the tour was stopping at two different castles: Urquhart and Eileen Donan. We didn’t have enough time to go into either of them, but they were pretty cool to see anyway. The view of Eilean Donan was right out of a movie! No, really… out of all the castles in Scotland, this one has been featured in the most films!

In order to reach Isle of Skye, we had to cross over a bridge. Our tour guide said that when the bridge was built, the government did not pay for the majority of the cost. This left the contractors with no other option but to charge each vehicle 5 GPB each way, and up to 45 GPB for larger trucks. An exception was made for people bringing livestock across the bridge, so everyone just started bringing sheep with them and letting them go once across the bridge! Eventually, the government gave in and decided to pay for the rest of the bridge.

Once we were in Isle of Skye, we drove through Portree which is the island’s capital. Just past the city there is a place called The Old Man of Storr. This is an interesting rock formation that looks like a man gazing out into the mountains. The legend goes that a giant was trying to make a deal with the devil, and the devil told him that he could have what he wanted if he climbed the hill. When he did so, the devil turned him to stone.

After visiting The Old Man of Storr, we headed back into Portree for lunch. I ended up eating with four other people from my tour, and we all had fish n chips.

On our way back to Inverness, we stopped for some more scenic views along the way. It was nice to get out and stretch every once in a while, as well as switch places in the bus. Thankfully, I got to ride up front twice! The view was much better from up there. I would love to explore more of the highlands on my own (or with friends/family) by car someday. The tour was a nice taste of what’s out there, but there’s just SO much to see and do!

When we arrived in Inverness, I decided to just walk around for a while. My long day of travel on Thursday took away from any time I would have otherwise spent exploring Inverness, so it was nice to see even just glimpse of the city. I ended up finding a nice place to have dinner and was back in my room by about 9pm. I was exhausted and ended up sleeping for 10 hours!

Well…that’s a wrap on my solo trip!!! I am now at the University of Aberdeen and have spent the last two days getting settled into my room. Starting on Monday, I will have a full week of orientation and welcome activities. Class is supposed to start on Monday, September 19th. However, that is also the day of the Queen’s funeral so it’s possible that we will not end up starting that day. My registration appointment is on Tuesday, so I will officially know which classes I’m taking then. I hope to continue posting often, but it will probably be less frequently due to my busy schedule. Be sure to subscribe on my home page if you would like to be notified of my latest post!

Until next time,

Clara